The Christianization of Iceland

Priests, Power, and Social Change 1000-1300

Orri Vésteinsson

The Christianization of Iceland

Priests, Power, and Social Change 1000-1300

Orri Vésteinsson

Description

This study investigates the role played by the Christian church in the development of power structures in Iceland, from the conversion in AD 1000 to the end of the thirteenth century. It demonstrates that by the time of the union with the Norwegian kingdom in 1262, fundamental constitutional changes had been brought about as a direct consequence of Christianization.

The Christianization of Iceland

Priests, Power, and Social Change 1000-1300

Orri Vésteinsson

Table of Contents

IntroductionI: Prehistory 1. The Conversion2. The Early Bishops3. Early Evidence of Priests4. Early Church BuildingII: The First Christian Institutions 5. The Idea of a Golden Age, 1080-1122St Jon6. The Tithe Law of 1097III: Churches and Property 7. Churches in Narrative Sources8. The Charter Evidence9. The Evidence of Legal Sources10. Private Churches11. Origins of Religious HousesIV: The Bishops 12. The Bishops and Family Politics13. Bishops as Chieftains14. Reform and ReactionV: The Priests 15. Shortage of Priests in the Twelfth Century16. Chieftain-Priests in the Twelfth Century17. The Status of Priests according to the Old Christian
Law Section18. Priesthood and Social Mobility19. The Shaping of Clerical IdentityVI: The Church and the Increase on Social Complexity BibliographyIndex

The Christianization of Iceland

Priests, Power, and Social Change 1000-1300

Orri Vésteinsson

Reviews and Awards

"Vésteinsson's book skillfully draws on a wide range of historical and archaeological sources in order to challenge and revise traditional assumptions about the development of ecclesiastical institutions in medieval Iceland...a valuable resource for any historian interested both in the development of ecclesiastical institutions and in the relationships between ecclesiastical and socio-political institutions in medieval Europe." -- Lutheran Quarterly